Piet van der Veer

Piet van der Veer (20 October 1896 — 3 December 1948) was a Dutch boxer from Rotterdam. He competed in the heavyweight category. He competed at international competitions and fought between 1918 and 1930. In 1962 he was described as the best Dutch heavyweight boxer ever. It has been stated that Van der Veer had feelings of inferiority and that was he was mentally unable during matches to get everything out of himself.

Van der Veer made his debut on 23 November 1918 in Rotterdam against A. Lamberts and won (KO). During his career he had 55 fights, winning 34 of them (12 losses, 7 draws). Van der Veer was a strong person, and was strong enough to lift a horse and turn the horse around. Van der Veer became for the first time national champion in 1920 and became many times champion until 1926. He had good fights in international matches and got a lot of attention. Van der Veer was even invited to come to the United States, but didn't go. Van der Veer had learned a lot of boxer Battling Siki during his stay in the Netherlands. Van der Veen fought twice against European Champion Erminio Spalla but lost both times on points after 20 rounds of 3 minutes. The defeat had a negative impact on his career. He started training less and his fears increased. During a fight in 1926 against Riccardo Bertazzolo, his heart started to hurt and was stopped by the doctor from fighting. After the fight against Belgian Pierre Charles in July 1930 he deciced to retire from boxing.

Van der Veen worked as a blacksmith at a brewery in Rotterdam. In his last years he struggled with health problems. He died on 3 December 1948 in Rotterdam at the age of 52.

• Dutch newspaper articles — via Delpher